Ring

ofCyclist experiences the spectacularfire and the unforgiving on a tour of the volcanic island of Lanzarote

Words JOSHUA CUNNINGHAM Photography JUAN TRUJILLO ANDRADES

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s the plane glides observer’, and John Dennis, an English 17th towards the airport century writer, described the sublime as being at , I’m ‘mingled with horrors, and sometimes almost trying to find the with despair’. right word to The overwhelming nature of the volcanic describe the vistas below me makes it clear that this is classic landscape below me. Big Ride territory for Cyclist: both beautiful and Lanzarote is barren and rocky, a mix of browns punishing; stimulating a mixture of excitement and blacks, and it’s pockmarked with volcanic and fear. Through the window of the aeroplane, craters that make it look otherworldly. To the Lanzarote certainly looks sublime. north it gets hilly, while the southern part of the island has large areas that are flat and Into the fire sparse, with little growing in the expanses of Lanzarote sits as the eastern-most island of dark earth and solidified lava. For a cyclist it the Canary archipelago, an igneous ribbon of looks both inviting and intimidating. landmasses 100km or so off Africa’s Atlantic Then the right word comes to me: sublime. coast, thought to be formed by a rogue ‘hotspot’ It’s a word most commonly used to mean due to their relative distance from any tectonic ‘excellent’ or ‘beautiful’, but if you were to ask plate boundaries. But geology aside, with such 18th century German philosopher Immanuel low latitudes comes a favourable bike riding Kant, the sublime includes ‘the noble, the climate, and with average temperatures of 25°C splendid and the terrifying’. Another German in the summer and 17°C in the winter – a winter philosopher, Arthur Schopenhauer, suggested that only lasts from January to February, we that the sublime was ‘pleasure from perceiving might add – Lanzarote has become a popular objects that threaten to hurt or destroy the destination for cyclists. P ‘The nature of the volcanic vistas below me makes it clear that this is Riding in Lanzarote is classic Big Ride territory for Cyclist: typified by long roads, sparse vegetation and both beautiful and punishing’ punishing headwinds

Mirador Ride like the wind del Rio Follow Cyclist’s tour of the island Haria Club La From Club La Santa, turn left towards Sóo, then left again Santa onto the LZ-401 to Caleta de Famara. Head inland on the LZ-402 and join the LZ-30 northbound. At take the LZ-10 to Haría. Turn left onto the LZ-201, then take

L the LZ-202 for the Mirador del Rio loop. Once back on A Mala NZ the LZ-201, continue south before turning left onto the AR OTE LZ-204. Turn right on the LZ-1, then turn off at the Mala Tinajo Peñas del junction to pass through Mala and Guatiza. Turn right, Chache back over the LZ-1, onto the LZ-405 to El Mojón, then right onto the LZ-404 towards Teguise. Rejoin the LZ-10 through Nazaret and turn right again on the LZ-34 after Tahiche. Turn left at the LZ-301, left onto the LZ-503, and right on the LZ-501 at Conil. Take the LZ-30 to Uga, where it turns into the LZ-702 and takes you through Conil Femés and Las Breñas. Continue onto the LZ-703 and Total distance: follow the lava trail to Yaiza, then take the LZ-67 north Las Breñas 177km through the national park to Mancha Blanca. Turn left to Total elevation: Tinajo, and then left on the LZ-20 back to Club La Santa. 2,386m

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P But the year-round holiday weather doesn’t Stu waiting to pay – or is he resting? mean this is a tame environment. There really is no place to hide on the barren expanses that comprise most of Tytheroygaka (as Lanzarote is known in the native Guanche language; apparently it means ‘One that is all ochre’). With next to no vegetation, the desert-like plains, rocky volcanic outcrops and sprawling expanses of lava fields provide little shelter from the unrelenting sun and wind. But the contradiction of the place is that these are the elements that contribute so hugely to its attraction. Like a trio of innocent lambs, we (Kate, Stu and me) set off from our base at the sports resort of Club La Santa on the island’s north coast. It’s early in the morning and, after arriving to glorious sunshine the day before, it’s with a slight sense of disappointment that we squint into the mist that has rolled in overnight. As we push away from the resort, it’s straight into the island’s infamous northerly wind. Once over the initial drag out of La Santa, the vastness of the landscape becomes immediately ‘The sprawling expanses of lava apparent. Wide, empty panoramas fill the void on one side of the road, while the cascading, fields provide little shelter from buttressed cliffs of the Famara mountains ramp up from the other, their reddish hues dimmed P the unrelenting sun and wind’

You’ll appreciate having a wheel to sit on when riding into the headwind on Peñas del Chache

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Right: Climbing out of Los Valles, we’re treated to the rare sight of some vegetation

P by the morning haze. A groggy bunch of we press on to the summit. We’re getting close hooded surfers sip coffee at a coastal cafe, their to the coast again and the fog is whipping over feet up on stacked boards while their eyes gaze the headland to our left, passing beneath our longingly out to sea. Their heads trace our path wheels, and then being sucked forcefully down from left to right as we break their hypnosis, the slopes to our right that lead to the warm and we greet them with a cheery ‘Hola’ before inland plains far below. skirting away from the coast to make our assault At the top we stop and breathe in the on the island’s highest point, Peñas del Chache, atmosphere for a bit, then embark on an at 672m, via an immaculately laid stretch of electrifying descent. We fly downwards through tarmac running from the small town of Teguise. clouds that warp and distort our vision, making As we begin to climb I notice the graffiti. it tricky to see the upcoming hairpin bends. Anyone who has ridden in classic cycling The sharp corners reveal gaping drops beyond destinations is used to seeing scrawled messages the road, and we need to remain alert for the on the road, but rather than ‘Allez Wiggo’ and occasional bleating goat, but we’re having ‘Forza Vincenzo’, I’m seeing ‘Come on Charles’ fun. There are very few switchback roads on ‘We fly The rider’s ride and ‘Go Henry’ emblazoned across the tarmac Lanzarote – most climbs are painfully straight Pinarello Dogma K, £4,799, below. It’s then that it occurs to me that we and gradual in their incline, spawned from the downwards yellow-limited.com are riding on the course of the Lanzarote 70.3 gentle flow of molten lava – so we make the The Dogma K is the bike that Pinarello originally Ironman triathlon, one of the big Half-Ironman most of this twisting descent, leaning into the through rolled out as a cobble-crunching machine akin to events on the calendar. In fact, a lot of our route bends and crouching low over our top tubes. Specialized’s Roubaix and Cannondale’s Synapse. is due to follow the triathlon course today. I look When we arrive at the white buildings in the clouds that But much like those other two, the Dogma K will around to check that we’re not being chased small market town of Haría, it’s tempting to turn find an equally appropriate owner in those who down by someone on a TT bike in swimming around and do the climb and descent all over warp and are after a comfortable, sportive-orientated bike. trunks and knee-high socks, but the road is again, but Stu has sniffed out an opportunity for The long, slack head tube provides a high front blissfully clear of any other traffic. coffee and is keen for a cafe stop. The sun’s out end, and it combines with a more angled seat tube distort and thin seatstays to create a naturally absorptive We continue on up. With less than 40km in now and we’ve still got over 100km left to ride, frame that’s perfect for long days where comfort is our legs, we’re still feeling fresh and enjoying so we all agree that a break would be welcome our vision, paramount. It also helps when negotiating Lanzarote’s the climb through the village of Los Valles, and park up at a cafe on a blossomy corner for more gravelly roads. There is plenty of clearance for around a short sequence of hairpin bends, and a round of cappuccinos. making it wide tyres – again a significant plus point for those finally through a veil of mist onto the Peñas del The ride’s photographer, Juan, originally hails in search of comfort. The Dogma K is an ideal weapon Chache plateau. The final drag up to the top is from , and amid befriending the waiter in tricky to see with which to tackle everything Lanzarote has to offer. mercilessly exposed, and the ferocious rotations unintelligible, arm-flailing conversation, he also of the turbines on a neighbouring wind farm accidentally eavesdrops on our neighbouring the hairpins’ confirm as much. The little ring is engaged and table’s mutterings. ‘You see that guy?’ Juan P

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It might spoil the P says, gesturing at a leather-skinned codger view, but the rolling eyeing up our bikes. ‘He’s telling his mate how mist certainly adds to the otherworldly good he is at climbing, even with groceries on atmosphere the back of his bike.’ The bored look on his companion’s face is now explained. As we pay up and leave the cafe, I catch the eye of our self-assured friend, and the look he gives me as I swing a leg over my top tube says, ‘Yes, I’m probably faster than you, too.’ The lethargy induced by a sun-baked coffee house is always a hard thing to shake off, but after a few lazy turns of the pedals we get back into the rhythm of the ride and continue northwards. The wind hasn’t relented, and though we make light-hearted banter about its ferocity, I’m sure we’re all secretly harbouring concerns at the prospect of another five hours under its torment. A doglegged detour takes us back towards the coast again, on the road to the Mirador del Rio vantage point at the northernmost tip of P ‘Quieter roads mean the tarmac is considerably worse but I, for one, love these opportunities to “ride dirty”’

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P Lanzarote, where the views are some of the downwind for the first time since leaving over most scenic on the island. That’s what we’re two hours earlier. Not for the first time today By the told, anyway – the mist is still lying thick over the descent is lightning fast. the headland and obscuring any view we might numbers have of the cliffs that plunge into the sea and Just deserts Get your stat fix over to the island of Graciosa. La Corona, one of Lanzarote’s many dormant We carry on along the road that snakes volcanoes, materialises as we speed south- along the coast. At times it runs perilously east across the island. Finally we are leaving close to the cliff edge, and as we pick our way the murky skies behind us, and the sun is 177 along its gradually inclining path, my mind our welcome companion on the descent. The kilometres ridden returns to yesterday’s musings in the aeroplane. wind-assisted, gentle meanders of the road This is a sublime moment: the stillness, the are eaten up with greed as they guide us down closeness, the unnerving emptiness of the mist off the highlands and into La Corona’s maze punctuated with glimpses of bronzed rock and of inhospitable lava fields.

2,386 blue sea below. It makes for a spine-tingling Around the volcano’s base is a sea of craggy metres of altitude gain few kilometres. knee-high rocks, partially covered in shrubbery When we arrive at the Mirador del Rio and resembling a parched coral reef. Slicing viewpoint the mist is still thick and so we through the middle of it, a newly laid single-lane have little reason to linger. The sharp U-turn road stretches all the way to the east coast, and 25.8 at the crest of the climb marks not just the before long we have traversed the island and average temperature in °C most northerly coordinates on the ride, but are turning right onto the main LZ-1 highway, the start of a new landscape, and also – more heading south. Due to a combination of the importantly – the point at which the wind will luxurious tail wind and a need to get off this begin blowing on our backs, for a while at least. stretch of busy main road as quickly as possible, 1 It’s with a collective sigh of relief that we we enter into three-up time-trial mode for the active volcano on Lanzarote coast through the apex of the turn to face 7km blast to the junction at Mala. 15 ‘I see us playing million – the age of out a modern- the island in years day version 4 of Lawrence sharp new tan lines per person Of Arabia’

We escape from the main road by taking a detour through the small towns of Mala and 71 Guatiza, but it’s not long before our deviation max speed in kmh threatens to spit us back out onto the highway again. Fortunately Stu, who is designated navigator for today’s ride, assures us he has found an alternative route that will draw us back inland on quieter roads. Unsurprisingly, quieter roads also means that the quality of tarmac is considerably worse than we’ve been used to today, but occasionally you have to make sacrifices to find the best route. I, for one, love these opportunities to ‘ride dirty’. It’s a sense of enjoyment reserved for when you ignore the GPS, turn away from the pristine tarmac onto the rutted side roads, and By all means take the give free rein to the childlike explorer inside you. Descending into the road less travelled. sun with the wind on Just watch out for bike- Sure enough, the road is a patchwork of our backs – there are swallowing potholes craterous potholes and speed-sapping gravel P few better feelings

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The volcanic island makes for some truly unique riding territory, and the Los Hervideros lava field is no exception Lanzarote

P patches. We thrash along it, dodging and and exposed amid all this vast emptiness, and There’s no middle ground when it comes to weaving, sometimes even jumping the obstacles in my mind I see us playing out a modern-day road surfaces. They’re in our path. Before long, Stu’s bike computer version of Lawrence Of Arabia, leading the either immaculate pops out of its mount and we have to stop and charge across the desert. or non-existent search for it in the grass by the verge. As we venture further south into the La For about 5km we play on the crumbling Geria region, we notice small, arc-shaped walls surface, before the smooth tarmac arrives again dotted around the lava fields, and evidence as we enter the town of El Mojón. ‘This town of human activity. It seems that this scorched translates as “The Turd”,’ cries Juan from the land is actually being used to grow vines for P car as we coast past the low white buildings. He explains later that while ‘The Turd’ is the literal translation, ‘it can also be translated as a stone that marks a distance between one place and another.’ A milestone, in other words. In either case, it doesn’t paint El Mojón as a place to hang around in, and we roll on through to continue our way southwards.

Seeking sanctuary After the hills of the north of the island, the area we enter as we ride south is flat, barren and arid, known locally as the El Hable desert. The sweeping dunes and blackened lava flows are accompanied by occasional outcrops of curiously-formed rock, created by volcanic activity and fashioned by the endless wind that blows across the plains. These rock sculptures provide some roadside interest amid the monotonous wasteland that surrounds them. Our trio of intrepid pedalleurs must look tiny

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equally unsuitable, so we settle for colas, coffees and scrambled egg on toast. There will be time for wine and meat later on… After an appropriately lengthy lounge in the shade, we rejoin the rolling road south, the smooth tarmac ironing out the gentle rises and falls of its course. The heat haze makes everything on the horizon look blue and fuzzy, but eventually we pass through the town of Femés, and there in the distance we can make out the sea. It’s a welcoming sight after what feels like an age in the desert.

The volcano’s back garden Tempting as it is to blast down the long, straight road that leads to the cooler shores of the south coast, we instead swing to the west and head for the destination that most non-cycling tourists come to Lanzarote for, the . A product of volcanic activity from the island’s only live volcano, Timanfaya, the park is now the centrepiece of the Montañas del Fuego, the Mountains of Fire, and a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve that covers the entire island. We first pass the curious formations of a salt mine, Salinas de Janubio, before entering the P Lanzarote’s established wine industry. Free lava-strewn hinterland of Los Hervideros. The from the prohibitive lava crust that dominates road winds into the park and back out again for most of the island’s interior, the layer of ash that no other reason than to allow tourists to see the has settled on the landscape here is known as vast, dark, rocky nothingness that is left behind picón, and its ability to trap and retain moisture after a volcano blows its top, which this one last is used by farmers in an area that is otherwise did in 1736. The crystal waters below provide a unsuited to most kinds of agriculture. Foot-high stark contrast in tone as they crash into the rock walls have been built to keep the vicious wind whose path they halted many years ago, but it’s from destroying the produce, and the vines are hard to imagine them doing much damage to grown horizontally, close to the ground, so they the might of these blackened cliffs now. can hide behind the low walls. After our detour the road leads us back In the space of about a kilometre our inland, and as we swing north at Yaiza we’re Above: The changing nature of the landscape surroundings are transformed from an arid, painfully reminded of the wind that, for ‘“Oh my God,” will keep your head up scorched landscape into sprawling pastures of the 100km since Mirador del Rio, has gone throughout the ride grapevines, with thousands upon thousands unnoticed – as it tends to while blowing in your Stu exhales Right: Vineyards of these uniform drystone walls spanning favour. By now we’ve been riding for five and Lanzarote style. Vines valleys and creeping up the mountainsides. a half hours, and the feeling of dejection as we as his head grow horizontally behind low walls By now the sun is at full strength in a clear crest a small rise out of Yaiza to be confronted by that protect them blue sky and the effects of 120km of riding a seemingly infinite and snooker cue-straight bows between from the wind are taking their toll, so we’re happy to see a road, disappearing into the shoulders of the restaurant shining like a mirage among the fields Mountains of Fire far ahead, is a mutual one. sunken of black. Without any discussion, we all pull into ‘Oh my God,’ Stu exhales as his head bows its tree-covered forecourt and dismount. between sunken shoulders. ‘You can quote shoulders. ‘Qué le gustaría?’ asks the waiter while we me on that, too,’ he says with a glance over at pore over maps and Garmin data. ‘What would me. There’s not much else to do in a situation “You can you like?’ My eyes are immediately drawn to like this, other than put your head down and the house tinto, Bodega La Geria, which goes ride… then glance up to the horizon, which quote me on from vine to bottle entirely on site, but it isn’t inevitably hasn’t moved, and ride some more. the thirst-quencher that my body is craving. The aforementioned ‘coral reef’ lava scrubland that, too”’ And judging by Kate’s mumbles of ‘I don’t think has made a comeback, engulfing us from every I’m after goat’s leg,’ it appears the food menu is direction for miles around and making any P

72 CYCLIST CYCLIST 73 Lanzarote How we got there P sense of progress entirely impossible. It’s as You’re barking if you though time has forgotten us, and we’re caught don’t, baking if you do in the middle of some cycling illusion where TRAVEL no matter how much we pedal, we never seem Flights to Arrecife depart to get any closer to the end of the road. from airports across the UK, On and on it goes, into the headwind, until with both budget and major eventually we’re overjoyed to come to a slight carriers flying from around bend in the road that at least offers us a change £100 (without bike). The in scenery. We’re at the base of Timanfaya and easiest way to travel on the the landscape morphs into fields of rock, sand island, especially with bike and scree. The tones change from blood-red to bags, is with a hire vehicle. iron, mahogany, slate and charcoal as we make We rented a van from Arricefe our way through the corridor Del Fuego, the airport, which is served by all last leg of Lanzarote’s ring of fire. the major hire companies. As we leave the volcano behind for the final descent back to the coast, it occurs to me that ACCOMMODATION the last section through the national park is like For a trip based around a condensed version of the island. It has desert- cycling – or any other sport for like savannahs, craggy lava graveyards, towering that matter – Club La Santa is coastal cliffs and bright amber mountainsides. without doubt a winning place It’s a place where the volcanic vistas make it to stay. Bike hire, masseurs, menacing, yet the roads – where they exist – are food halls and friendly folk are as smooth as a pint of Tropical, the local beer, all sheltered within its walls. and the sun is virtually guaranteed whatever The only reason to leave is to time of year you choose to come. ride your bike. That said, try not At times our ride has been challenging, even to make eye contact with the dispiriting when toiling into the wind, but it fitness instructors at breakfast has also been inspiring and spectacular. And it or you’ll find yourself being is, after all, the combination of these sublime roped into a yoga class. Visit elements that a Big Ride is all about. ] clublasanta.co.uk for details. Joshua Cunningham is like a cycling volcano – explosive on the bike, but dormant off it FOOD AND DRINK Not much grows on Lanzarote, so it’s no surprise that seafood is high on the menu. You should also try the local wine, made with Listán-Negro grapes for red and Malvasia for white.

Top: A day in the Lanzarote sun means a fresh set of tan lines

Left: The Timanfaya park provides a final dash of colour

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